I realize that for someone in my line of work, not having seen Sneakers until tonight is probably a gross violation of my geek creds. Or something. But, since my wife ditched me at the last minute tonight to go see Springsteen tonight, I decided to grab it and give it a watch. Not bad. I don’t have much to add, aside from that. I expected a better technology angle, but this is more about the ethics of hacking vs. the actual practice of it. It’s not Hackers or The Net. It doesn’t try to create “action” or “drama” out of the act of hacking into a computer itself, which makes it different.

I still think WarGames is the clear winner of the genre, but Sneakers has a good story with some of my favorite actors. Actually, the cast is unbelievable. River Phoenix, David Strathairn, Timothy Busfield, Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Ackroyd, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell are all very good in this movie… as they are in just about every movie they’re in.

And, I have to admit that they ended with the RNC bankrupt and Greenpeace, Amnesty, and the some other charities with all of their money got a snicker out of me. Even though I self-identified as a Republican back then, too.

I posted a few days ago about the new Starbury One shoe, Stephon Marbury’s new shoe line that retails for $14.98.

ESPN doesn’t have the OTL segments online yet (hmmm, gotta work on that), but here’s some clips I found on YouTube and Google Video about the shoe.

Here’s the other:

I’ve never been a huge Marbury fan, but it’s nice to see an athlete trying to do the right thing.

I wonder about the choice to go with Steve and Barry’s University Sportswear as the exclusive retailer. Wonder if that was the only way he could do it, or if other retailers wouldn’t touch the shoe.

Also, if you watch the second video, when asked whether he’s wearing the shoe during NBA games to give it credibility, Marbury responds that he’s doing it because the endorsement deal requires it. Which makes me ask, who’s the deal with?

My suspicion is that Steve and Barry’s decided to do this to complement their line of discount clothing. Steve and Barry’s tries to keep prices around $7.98 for most clothing. They probably approached Marbury and not the other way around. So, Marbury is wearing the shoe as part of the endorsement deal with S&B. Nothing wrong with that, and the way the deal is structured, Marbury looks to be doing the right thing and S&B also keeps their risk down.

I might make the drive down to Waterbury just to pick up a pair. At $14.98, why not?

I have OTL on right now and they’re doing a report on Stephon Marbury and his new low cost shoe and apparel line, “Starbury.” The cornerstone of the brand is his new sneaker, designed to match the needs of an NBA player but priced at $14.98. Marbury plans on wearing the shoes during NBA games this season, and hopes that the shoes make it easier for families to afford brand-name sneakers.

You can listen to a report at NPR on the sneakers.

Marbury may have some detractors as a basketball player (that Knicks contract makes it easier to give up some sneaker money?), but this is a long overdue idea. It’s great to see a basketball player stepping up and challenging the notion that basketball sneakers have to cost $150+ to be good.